A.J. Bouye: Blake Bortles deserves credit, not blame

Charean Williams

4 months ago

Blake Bortles threw two touchdowns and five interceptions in the Jaguars’ final two regular-season games, both losses. Jaguars cornerback A.J. Bouye handed the quarterback a book to read before the playoffs: “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable” by Tim S. Grover, MichaelJordan’s former trainer.

“It’s just talking about mindset as far as like getting in a zone, tuning out the noise, channeling your dark side to get in your zone,” Bouye said, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN. “It’s really good. It helps in sports and just in life in general.”

Bortles got at least some of his assignment done.

““He just came up to me [and] he smiled. He’s like, ‘Dark side,’” Bouye said. “. . . We were talking about it every time we walk by, and you just saw his confidence getting higher and higher. Just what he did against [Tom] Brady last game, it was amazing. He really kept us in the game, and I wish that we would have finished it for him.”

While everyone waits to see what the team will do at quarterback this offseason, Bouye defended his teammate. In three postseason games, Bortles threw for 594 yards, three touchdowns and a 91.0 passer rating.

“He finished strong,” Bouye said. “That’s all I’m going to say. It’s a lot of factors that go into it. We can’t just blame it on one person.

“At the end of the day, defense had to show up, too, and we didn’t. If we would have won that game, what would y’all say then?”